Tag Archives: Meadow Arbor

Number 1

For some reason, the Meadow Arbor 1 house in San Antonio didn’t get all that many nibbles, even with a price change. So, we decided to go back to our original buy and hold strategy and try to rent it out, some time in the middle of last month.

After a bit of a lull, interest in the house picked up, and as of this week, we have found a renter who met all of our requirements, and have a signed lease.

The income will be helpful over the next year or two, and we have hopes that we will be able to sell it for a good profit in a year or two.

The front of the house looks much more “alive” now.

Number 2

We are moving right along with Meadow Arbor 2, despite a lack of photos and the fact that Frank the project manager had a construction accident and had to have the tip of a finger re-attached. Yow! The team Frank found to do the renovation are fast workers, which we always appreciate. Too bad they will probably go back to commercial work after this job.

The exterior has been painted in the blues that Carol picked, and of course all bad wood has been replaced. It certainly looks 100% more interesting than it did before, especially the snazzy garage door! And the interiors are no longer many bright colors, which is a relief to the eye. We’ll have more interior pictures soon.

The garage is an aquamarine color.

We were just about to start pre-marketing that house as a rental, when our real estate person in San Antonio, Alba, got wind of a family who is interested in buying the house as an owner finance. Hmm! We’ll see how that works out! Good work on both the rental and the potential buyer, Alba!

(The picture originals are sort of small, but you can get the idea, at least. Thanks to Frank and his subcontractor for taking the time to get us some photos!)

Meadow Arbor 1

It took a long time to find a renter for Meadow Arbor 1, but we are getting closer now. That may be surprising to you, but we eliminate a lot of potential renters with the process we go through to qualify them. They have to fill out an extensive application. Our background checks are rather thorough, as well, and you have to be able to actually pay. But a lot of folks aren’t even getting that far!

Our agent, Alba, reported that a lot of people made appointments and didn’t show up. She lives rather north of San Antonio, in Kyle, so it’s not only rude, it’s really inconvenient. We sure have appreciated her efforts to get it rented.

We always have the option of lowering the rent when things take a while, but the house was actually pretty well priced, and we did get applications. You just never know!

Meadow Arbor 2

These colors will contrast nicely with the gray and red of the house across the street.

Frank, our project manager, has his contractors all lined up for the renovation in Meadow Arbor 2. He has also made a detailed schedule, which should really help it move along rapidly. While the house is basically in good shape, there’s still a bit to do, both inside and outside!

There were a couple of bids for the work, one of which was lower and one that was a bit more. The contractor for the lower one was a friend of a friend kind of guy, and seems to have been intimidated by all the documents we ask contractors to sign (the Six Critical Documents, if you studied with the FortuneBuilders). He did not return the forms and stopped responding to inquiries. On the other hand, the contractor with the higher bid has a legitimate business and had no problem signing the forms, so he has the job. This is a great example of why you don’t always accept the lowest bid.

This pile of brush is not exactly a feature, so it’s removal is part of the demolition phase!

Frank is hoping the renovation will take about three to four weeks, with four workers on the job. This week is for demolition and exterior work, including prepping for paint. The plan is for that to take up the first week. There will be a lot of tree trimming and brush removal in this phase. That will make the house look different.

Carol picked colors for this house, too, and they will look great. The Interesting Aqua main color is more green than blue, as is the door color, Waterscape. A happy Marshmallow is the trim!

After a week or so on the market, we ended up with three competing offers on the Meadow Arbor 1 house. Our real estate agent asked all of them to come up with their best and final offer by 7 pm on Wednesday evening.

It’s still a cute kitchen that someone will get to enjoy!

Thursday morning, we all got on our morning call, excited to hear the news. We ended up with one offer that was $2K over the asking price. That felt good. Each offer had its advantages and disadvantages, though. It’s not always the highest offer that wins out in these negotiations. Sometimes the amount of closing costs a high offer wants to get paid will negate its advantages. Or an offer could have VA Financing that might not allow the house to sell for the agreed-upon price unless it appraises for that price (which can be a problem if there was a bidding war that drove up the price). We had some of each of those things to consider.

At first we thought we’d only end up with a thousand dollars or so in profit, but after looking more carefully at our balance sheets, it turned out that we would make a modest, but not shabby $10K profit. Continue reading →

The renovation of the Meadow Arbor 1 house came out so well that we decided to list the house for $135,000. We are very happy with how it came out! Here’s a direct link to the listing. If you know anyone interested in a nice little house in Universal City, Texas (San Antonio area), please give us a call, or contact our listing agent, Alba at (210) 931-1314!

Looking at our before and after photos, it’s amazing how much changed in just a few weeks. We are very proud of this one, and of how well our Austin and San Antonio teams worked together to get all the decisions made quickly and within our budget. That’s how it’s supposed to work, folks! We welcome your feedback on the house! Please post in the comments.

The original kitchen doesn’t compare to the new one!

The Final Touches

It’s been a busy week or two for this house. It kept raining off and on, so it was hard to paint the exterior, but it happened. As soon as our general contractor Frank’s team finished with the exterior painting, Carol and Alba, who is local to the house, came over and did some light staging and took photos for the listing. After looking at Alba’s photos below, I’m sure you’ll agree that the house came out much better!

Not all our news is bad! We are keeping updated on the Meadow Arbor project, and our project manager (and contractor), Frank, reports that the exterior painting is almost done (there were a few rain delays, but we can’t complain about rain). The house looks very nice.

Inside, he was painting the very tall chimney and taking care of a few extra details. We look forward to photos of the finished interior soon, and to putting this one on the market in a week or two.

The best news, though, is we plan to make an offer on the house right across the street, so Frank can move straight on to another project and use the same vendors and sources he found for the first Meadow Arbor. It pays to network with the neighbors, which is exactly what he did! We strongly believe in making friends with the folks around the houses we work on, just for these reasons.